An early and unexpected spring snowstorm dropped less than 2 inches of powder on Salt Lake City by Friday morning but created a mess of damaged power lines, downed tree branches and slushy commutes.
Though it was historic in becoming the fourth wettest March 29 on record for the capital city, its impact was expected to stretch into Saturday, as well. In an emailed update, the city announced that the scattered outages — affecting nearly 19,000 residents at the peak — likely wouldn’t be completely fixed until the morning.
“Residents are encouraged to plan accordingly and to reach out to neighbors who may be impacted, particularly the elderly and those with health issues," the notice states.
Additionally, Salt Lake City’s forestry team continued working to clean up fallen tree limbs knocked down by the snow or wind.
The storm started when rain turned to snow on Thursday night into Friday morning, creating slick conditions that slowed traffic to a crawl and led to a number of crashes. Flooding also temporarily closed some major intersections, and Emigration Canyon was shut down when power lines fell on a snowplow and set it on fire. The driver escaped without injury, according to Salt Lake City police.
According to the National Weather Service, the airport received 1.39 inches of precipitation Thursday night through early Friday morning — .71 inches of of that came between midnight and 7 a.m. The current record — .88 inches — was recorded in 1915. The airport has now recorded 3.92 inches of precipitation for the month, which is more than double the monthly average water value of 1.79 inches.
The storm also brought 10 to 13 inches of snow to several Utah ski resorts, including Alta, Brighton, Powder Mountain, Snowbasin, Snowbird, Solitude and Sundance.
Several residents also reported seeing cold air funnels throughout the valley. The weather service said those are not tornadoes, but are cold masses of air caught in a spin that pose no danger.
Overall, clearing is expected on Saturday, with partly sunny skies and temperatures in the low 50s in the Salt Lake area. The forecast calls for a sunny Sunday, with temperatures in the mid-50s.
Tribune reporter Courtney Tanner contributed to this article.
